Winning Italian fashion students Martina Micci and Celeste Chiaramonte (centre) flanked by two of the other students Carlotta Ferrari and Marzia Lombardo, who took part in the program.

The Woolmark Company has partnered with luxury Italian fashion house Max Mara and the Istituto Marangoni’s final year Fashion Design students to highlight the value of Merino wool and throw their combined support behind emerging design talents.

A newly launched program called the Textile Project challenged the students to each make a 10-piece capsule collection for Autumn 2017, with a minimum 90 per cent Merino wool. The students selected for the project were Celeste Chiaramonte, Lucia Sanjust Di Teulada, Carlotta Ferrari, Immacolata Greco, Marzia Lombardo, Shames Michael Lutchmiah, Martina Micci, Yu Yao, and Yu Yue.

Max Mara and Istituto Marangoni professors mentored the students throughout the design project, guiding them in textile research and in the collection’s development phase, whilst The Woolmark Company staff assisted in passing on their knowledge of Merino wool and explaining to the students to versatility and inherent benefits of the natural fibre.

In October, the finalists each had the opportunity to showcase their hero piece in the Max Mara store in Corso Genova, along with the mood boards and concepts behind the collection. Both Max Mara Fashion Director Laura Lusuardi and The Woolmark Company Country Manager Italy Francesco Magri judged the final designs and chose one winner each. Lusuardi’s pick was Martina Micci, who now has the opportunity to attend a three-month internship at Max Mara, meanwhile, Celeste Chiaramonte, chosen by Magri, has the chance to do a three-month internship at Riccardo Rami Studio, The Woolmark Company’s consultancy office in charge of the development of The Wool Lab.

“The aim of the textile project was to communicate to young fashion designers the knowledge and the culture of fabrics that are fundamental to design high quality collections,” explains Lusuardi. “The fabric is part of Max Mara's DNA and The Woolmark Company has been the natural partner to share this experience with.

“All of the outfits presented during the textile event were amazing but the winner of the internship at Max Mara Group has been selected for its sense of volumes and its contemporary interpretation.”

For Magri, his selection was chosen for the original use of the high performance 100% Merino wool fabric, for the innovative silhouette and volumes.

“The winning outfit represents the best interpretation of the taste and femininity of Max Mara,” he said. “The fabric and versatility of the fibre are the main characteristics of Celeste Chiaramonte's collection.”